The social hierarchy additionally explains the reason why African-American women -- slaves in particular -- were subject to "persistent sexualization" in slave culture (77). Men of both races maintained social power over African-American women, who had little recourse if they were abused physically or sexually (est, 3). African-American men did not have the same sexualization and the very idea of a sexual relationship between a free or slave African-American man and a white women invoked violence (est, 77).

Changes in the role of African-Americans did occur in the period leading up to the Civil ar. African-Americans sought out more rights during this period. Conversely small groups of women may have been seeking out rights but most were called to support their husbands and families -- and their entire society -- as the political scene turned towards the possibility of war (Dorsey, 77). This was particularly true in the South where states…...

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Works Cited

Dorsey, Bruce. "A Gendered History of African Colonization in the Antebellum United States." Journal of Social History 34.1 (2000): 77-105. Academic Search Premier. 8 May 2007.  http://search.ebscohost.com .

Douglass, Frederick. "Independence Day Speech." Rochester, NY. 4 Jul. 1852. 6 May 2007  http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/douglass.htm .

Mars, James. Life of James Mars: a slave born and sold in Connecticut. Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Lockwood & Co., 1865.

West, Emily. "Tensions, Tempers, and Temptations: Marital Discord Among Slaves in Antebellum South Carolina." American Nineteenth Century History 5.2 (2004): 1-18. Academic Search Premier. 8 May 2007.

Antebellum America
The Continental Setting

In 1815, the United States still had most of the characteristics of an underdeveloped of Third World society, although most of the world was in the same condition at that time. Its population was about 8.5 million, about triple that of 1776, but over 95% was still rural and agrarian. As late as 1860, over 80% were overall, but by then industrialization and urbanization were well underway in the North and that sections population was 40% urban. Mexico City was still the largest urban area in North America at the start of this period, while big cities were few and far between in the United States. With the exception of river ports like St. Louis and Cincinnati, almost all of them were on the ocean, since water transportation was far cheaper than overland movements before the invention of railroads. Washington, DC was still roughly the geographic center…...

They are also very active in translating the Qur'an into many other languages, and creating community support including hospitals, and even institutions of higher learning.
The Sunnis also have a problem with the Ahmadi belief that Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the religion, was the prophet that Muhammad said would could back to Earth to lead his people. Ahmad declared himself the prophet, and the Sunnis feel this is another negative aspect of the Ahmadi sect, because they do not believe the prophet has returned, yet. Perhaps even more telling are some Ahmadi customs that ban their women from marrying Sunnis, and ban them from worship when a Sunni is leading the prayers. This drives a wedge between both sects and keeps them apart in ideals and in faith. Ahmadis believe they are totally within the bounds of Islam, while Sunnis think they are not.

There is another way Ahmadis have…...

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References

Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, and Lane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1993.

Owens, Leslie Howard. This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Smith, Jane I. Islam in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.

Waugh, Earle H., Baha Abu-Laban, and Regula B. Qureshi, eds. The Muslim Community in North America. Edmonton, Alta.: University of Alberta Press, 1983.

Blacks in antebellum America were far from monolithic, in their personal identities or in their cultural and political status. For example, F&H point out that even among the free blacks in free states, there would be significant differences in levels of status, wealth, and power. Some had significant savings and real estate holdings not dissimilar from their white counterparts, whereas others held positions of low status such as domestic servants. Moreover, racism continued to permeate northern white society and blacks still were disallowed from participating in the political process. Yet as Parker’s Sankofa, we meet people like Shango, who represents the ways blacks and slaves subverted the systemic racism via the accumulation of specialized skills. The historical record reveals three main categories of African-American status during the antebellum period: free blacks in free states, enslaved blacks in Southern/slave states, and free blacks in Southern/slave states. Of these three, I would…...

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References

F&H

Library of Congress (2017). The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship. Retrieved online:  

Parker

 

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/free-blacks-in-the-antebellum-period.html 

Antebellum Period: Different Perspectives
Woman in a White Slaveholding Family in Virginia

My name is Matilda Baldwin originally of the Richmond Portmans that being my maiden name. I was born and raised outside of Richmond on my poppy's tobacco plantation. My husband's land is not very far away. I spend most of my summer afternoons with Mama. We sit fanning ourselves sipping mint-iced teas wondering if my baby sister will have a successful introduction into Richmond Society. Three years prior, my own debutante ball was glorious. It was where I met Robert Baldwin and many other suitors. He was clearly smitten with me from the start for the next day he asked Poppy for my hand in marriage. My father appreciates fine things in life; a good hand rolled cigar, two fingers of French Brandy and a man who knows what he wants but is not afraid of getting it. Besides Robert…...

Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market by alter Johnson (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2001) attempts to offer an alternative perspective to the history of slavery in the South. Rather than focusing on plantation life or historical accounts of the region, Johnson offers a meticulous study of the legalities of slavery and gives special attention to the marketplace of slavery. Johnson underlines the normalcy of slavery in the eyes of white Southerners and traders. To traders, the slaves were largely commodities or cargo; to the slaveholders they were potential ways to enrich their plantations or make domestic life easier. "My object is to get the most I can from the property...I care but little to whom or how they are sold, whether together or separated," said one owner, regarding breaking up families for the slave trade (Johnson 39).
alter Johnson is a professor of history and African-American studies…...

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Work Cited

Johnson, Walter. Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market. Cambridge, Mass:

Harvard University Press, 2001

North America into Sub-Regions
By total area, the United States is the world's third largest country, with landscape that varies from temperate forestland and rolling hills on the East coast, mangrove in Florida, the Great Plains in the center of the country, the Mississippi and Missouri river system, the Great Lakes which are shared with Canada, the Rocky Mountains west of the plains, the deserts and temperate coastal zones west of the Rocky Mountains, the temperate rain forests in the Pacific Northwest, and the tundra of Alaska (United). Canada, the second largest country in the world, occupies the northern half of the North American continent, and is divided into six regions, the Pacific Coast, the Interior Plains, the Canadian Shield, the St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Appalachian Region, and the Arctic Lowlands (Geographic). The majority of the regions of both countries tend to correspond with one another. Aside from the South…...

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Work Cited

Canadian Shield. Retrieved November 05, 2005 from:

http://talmud.epsb.ca/regions/north/lz/csi/csi.html

Exterior Form of North America. Retrieved November 05, 2005 from:

 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/1_ch01.htm

Jacksonian Democrats
During antebellum America, the Jacksonian Democrats were created. This was a group that viewed themselves as protectors of the common people. A powerful executive whose goal was to destroy aristocracy in America, Andrew Jackson, ruled the Jacksonian Democrats. (Schlesinger)

Strangely, this group was not made up of the common people. The Jacksonian Democrats were a wealthy group that supported equality between white men, enacted radical economic policies, and disregarded any capabilities of the federal government. Many say that the group was not the introducers of democracy in America but rather users of the system for their own benefit.

During the early 1800's, the United States was growing at a rapid pace. A market revolution took place as cash-crop agriculture and capitalist manufacturing replaced the artisan economy. However, this prosperity created a split between the industrializing, urban north, agrarian, rural South, and the expanding West.

The Jacksonians passed the Tariff of 1828, creating…...

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Bibliography

Schlesinger, Jr. The Age of Jackson. 1945.

Latner, R. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson. 1979.

Sellers, Charles. The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846. 1991.

Woman?
The book, 'Aren't I a Woman?' explores the challenges that women faced in the antebellum America. The author has focused to address the challenges of sexuality and racism that affected many women of this age. The author, Deborah Gray is a Professor at Scott University, who has focused her study in examining the issues of justice and social inequality in society. She is interested in this study as she attempts to explain the challenges of sexuality and racism that has affected the women from minority races in the United States. Her focus is to lead the readers of her work to begin understanding the challenges that women have faced from the antebellum America to the current day. Through a better understanding of these issues, better remedies may be developed to help the affected women in the society. Indeed, without an in-depth understanding of the issues of sexuality, and racism,…...

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Reference

White, Deborah, 1985, Aren't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South. New York:

W.W. Norton and Company. Print

The fact that he chose to use real Black people in the background, but white actors in the lead roles highlights the idea that Blacks were still supposed to be subservient to whites; even lead characters who were supposed to be Black were portrayed by whites. However, it also points to one of the reasons that whites chose to employ blackface: the perpetuation of racial stereotypes. hile many minstrel shows focused on less frightening aspects of Black stereotypes, the Birth of a Nation focused on a fear that people would use to drive anti-Black sentiment in the period following Reconstruction: the image of the Black male as dangerous rapist. Although many people protested the racist elements of the movie, it became an instant success, and remains a controversial but constant member of most critics' best film lists.
Blackface persisted as a staple in American entertainment throughout the early part of…...

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Works Cited

The Center for American Music. "Blackface Minstrelsy . University of Pittsburgh. N.p. 19

Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.

Deane, Pam. "Amos 'N' Andy Show." The Museum of Broadcast Communications. N.p. 2013.

Web. 23 Apr. 2013.

.....eras are too complex to reduce to a simple set of proximal causes and immediate effects. The main reason why historians disagree on critical issues like the causes of the American Civil War or the causes of the Great Depression is that there is no one cause or even one simple set of causes. It depends on point of view, theoretical viewpoint, and a host of issues related to the intersection between different causes. Historical knowledge also evolves as new facts emerge and new theories come to light. For example, Tyrrell argues that the United States was more connected to the global economy during the Antebellum years than historians have typically given the country credit for, and that these international commercial activities are linked to some of the economic underpinnings of the war. History is systemic; the Pax Brittannica might not seem to have any relevance for antebellum America but…...

Inductive reasoning leads Legrand to discover an encrypted message that he sets out to painstakingly decipher. Poe's detailed analysis of the cryptogram is quintessentially romantic, encouraging rational inquiry into seemingly supernatural phenomenon. A respect for both the natural and supernatural worlds is implied by the story. Interestingly, nothing supernatural does take place in "The Gold-ug." Legrand admits to the striking coincidences that led him to the treasure, but coincidences themselves are not supernatural events. Legrand states, "it was not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done."
The titular bug is a scarabaeus, which is a direct allusion to ancient Egypt. Like pirates, the imagery and lore of ancient Egypt has romantic, compelling connotations for readers. The reference to the scarab is coupled with the eerie image of the skull. When Jupiter finally climbs out on the "dead" limb the situation takes on an ominous tone before resolving itself…...

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Budding interest in the science of mind is also a key theme in Edgar Allen Poe's work. In "The Gold-Bug," Legrand is suspected to be mentally ill. In fact, the narrator is certain that his friend is going mad and urges him repeatedly to seek help. The narrator comments on Legrand's carrying the bug like a conjurer, "When I observed this last, plain evidence of my friend's aberration of mind, I could scarcely refrain from tears." Legrand later admits to teasing the narrator and deliberately acting insane just to humor him. However, Legrand also does exhibit genuine signs of mild bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Towards the beginning of the story, the narrator states, "I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the growing moodiness of his temper by any comment...I dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune had, at length, fairly unsettled the reason of my friend." Legrand even begins to take on the appearance of someone who is mentally ill: "His countenance was pale even to ghastliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with unnatural luster." Although it would be a full fifty years before Freud, Poe does suggest awareness of mental instability as a natural rather than supernatural occurrence.

Edgar Allen Poe's 1843 short story "The Gold-Bug" addresses attitudes towards race in antebellum America. The story is rooted in the Romantic literary tradition, while remaining grounded in historical fact as well. Even the Captain Kidd legend introduces readers to the real role of pirates during the colonial era. Poe mentions the combination of French, Spanish, and English loot. Legrand's Huguenot background also begs inquiry into the minor threads of European colonization.

The intended audience for Poe's story included any American curious about history, science, and the supernatural. The story is set in the same time it was written, which encourages the reader to identify fully with the narrator. Poe deliberately blanks out the last two digits of the dates in the story, too, which allowed his nineteenth century audience to project whatever date they wanted onto the story. Readers during the middle of the nineteenth century would have been curious about the natural sciences as well as the discovery of gold. After all, the California gold rush and the Wild West loomed in American consciousness. The idea that Americans had access to buried treasure and could get rich quick was as real in the 1850s as it is today.

44). She affiliated with the African Methodist Church (AME), preaching from New York State to Ohio and down South as well. She published her autobiography in 1849 and received "strong resistance and biting criticism," according to Frances Smith Foster (1993). "Lee used her alleged inferiority to emphasize the power of her message and in so doing, she…implies an authority superior to those whom she addresses" (Foster, p. 57). Indeed, Lee used the New Testament assertion that "the last shall be first" and in her autobiography she said she was an example of God's "ability to use even 'a poor coloured female instrument' to convert sinners…" (Foster, p. 57).
Another worthy source utilized for this paper is Dr. Edward R. Crowther, Professor of History at Adams State College in Colorado. Crowther published an article in the Journal of Negro History explaining how African-Americans got away from the white man's church after…...

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Works Cited

Blount, Brian K. (2005). Can I Get a Witness? Reading Revelation Through African-American

Culture. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press.

Clayton, Obie. (1995). The Churches and Social Change: Accommodation, Moderation, or Protest. Daedalus, 124(1), 101-119).

Collier-Thomas, Bettye. (1998). Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their

Smith may dislike the stereotype, but she cannot help internalizing it. She feels unfinished because she is regarded as unfinished, and even members of her community urge her to straighten her hair. This is completely different from the joyous, affirmative sigh "I am complete" at the end of Morales' poem. Just as Morales admits that all experiences with racism and discrimination are different, Smith's poem demonstrates how African-American women frequently lack assurance of their sense of self and that their physical qualities are regarded as alien to what is considered 'good' and 'American.' (The young Smith's wearing white to cover up one's tallness seems an attempt to mask blackness and presumed 'badness' with clothing). Morales' instability of identity lies in multiplicity of national cultures, but Smith, even as a young, black girl, but carefully balance her sense as an American and African-American with even greater care and psychological discomfort…...

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References

Bolano, Roberto. (2000). Literature and Exile. The Nation. Retrieved August 9, 2011 at  http://www.thenation.com/article/157695/literature-and-exile 

Daniels, Lenore Jean. (2009). What is the image of black women today? Philly IMC.

Retrieved August 9, 2011 at http://www.phillyimc.org/en/what-image-black-women-today

Doughty, Julia. (1995). Testimonies of survival: Notes from an interview with Aurora Levins

For many reformers reform was almost like a religious conversion, satisfying their spiritual and societal needs. And most of the reformers were of younger age though in some instances they pressed for conservative reforms. Reformers of the nineteenth century were different from their predecessors in the eighteenth century in believing, unlike their predecessors, that the change could be brought about from the bottom up, that it should come form the individual. In contrast to their predecessors, reformers of the nineteenth century were anti-elitist. Therefore, many reformers championed abolitionism, women's rights, temperance, and institutional reforms for the socially disadvantaged: the poor, the insane, the uneducated, and even criminals. Walters does not suggest that all reform movements were liberating. They could be repressive too, as some reformers advocated slavery.
Walters places significant emphasis on Protestant Evangelicalism, which he puts at the heart of social forces which inspired reformers the strongest. But with…...

Defining the Discord: Slave Compromises in Antebellum America

The Intricate Dance: Slave Compromises and the Preservation of Union

Precarious Bargains: Slave Compromises as Contentious Enablers

The Paradox of Compromise: Maintaining Unity Amidst Division

Fragile Equilibriums: Slave Compromises and the Elusive Balance

Threads of Deception: Slave Compromises and the Perpetuation of Slavery

Navigating the Abyss: Slave Compromises as Political Balancing Acts

The Crucible of Compromise: Slave Compromises and the Forging of National Identity

Unresolved Tensions: Slave Compromises as Band-Aids on a Bleeding Wound

Unending Echoes: The Legacy of Slave Compromises in American History

The Perils of Accommodation: Slave Compromises and the Erosion of Principle

Uncertain Unification: Slave Compromises and the Fragile Fabric....